Semi-Tough (1977)

Thanks for the memories!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The time lapse involved between reading the Dan Jenkins book and catching this picture is now closing in on about forty years for me. My best recollection is that the book was hilarious, one of those stories that you don't stop reading until you're done. The difference between this film and the novel are palpable, even after four decades. I didn't get that much of a charge out of the flick.So calling this a football movie would be a misnomer, there's really very little game action in the story. The main idea here was sending up all those self help seminars of the Seventies meant to get one in touch with one's self. I had a college prof once who took a similar approach, asking the class to position themselves (in our desks) in a manner meant to convey how in touch we were with him and the rest of the students. For a liberal school, I couldn't sit far enough away. But we read a lot of R. Crumb - keep on truckin' dude! So with all the 'being where it's at', 'getting it or not getting it', and the whole business about mixed marriages, this flick got a little tedious after a while. Jill Clayburgh was the perfect casting call for the role of Barbara Jane. I've seen her in a few other films and she's got the tedious thing down pretty well pat.Reading some of the other reviews I see the film has it's share of adherents, but if it's a 'real' football movie you want, along with Burt Reynolds, your best bet is to head on over to 1974's "The Longest Yard" or the 2005 remake of the same name - Reynolds is in both.

Advertised as a sexy comedy about pro-football players and their women, this Michael Ritchie film, based on the book by Dan Jenkins, instead takes aim at fads and other eccentricities of the 1970s, using the sports world as a backdrop. It wasn't the big commercial hit some were predicting, though it garnered good notices for Burt Reynolds, doing another of his amiable walk-throughs. Jill Clayburgh, just prior to her breakthrough in "An Unmarried Woman", plays the daughter of the football team's owner, and her rapport with Reynolds is surprisingly instantaneous. Kris Kristofferson, on the other hand, ends up playing straight man to her and pal Reynolds, and the third-wheel position subdues low-keyed Kristofferson even further (he evaporates). There are some funny potshots at the EST craze, with Bert Convy well-cast as a self-help guru, but the romantic comedy at the heart of the piece never quite takes off. Ritchie puts all his sting into the absurdities happening around the principals, a move which consequently leaves the finale seeming half-baked. ** from ****

It's too bad Michael Ritchie died of prostate cancer in 2000. So there's no opportunity for a commentary track unless Reynolds, Kristofferson and Clayburgh decide to get together to do it, which would be an excellent idea. Bert Convy who played a caricature of Werner Erhard named "Frederick Bismark" died in 1991 at the age of 57 of a brain tumor. An unfortunate loss; his performance, one of his few in films is superior and worth the price of the disc. He's remembered as a game show host, but he earned his acting chops from 1958 in television dramas. Carl Weathers, who would have a major role as Apollo Creed in three Rocky movies, has a small role here. Jill Clayburgh's best work is arguable, but for someone who got her start in soaps in th 60s and whose movies include Portnoy's Complaint, Gable and Lombard and Hanna K., Semi-Tough has to be a highlight. It's difficult to think of someone who might have been better in this role. Robert Preston is one of those actors who hasn't been replaced. The movies he made, for the most part, can't be remade because there's nobody like him. From 1938 until his death in 1987: This Gun For Hire, Whispering Smith, The Bells of St. Mary"s, How the West Was Won, The Music Man, S.O.B.,Victor, Victoria. His performance as the football team owner is priceless. Lotte Lenya has a small role as Clara Pelf, in a not-to-be-missed scene as a masochistic masseuse by this great actress. True, it's not a great movie, but for those of us who were there or who'd like to know about the excesses of the 70s, this movie is very hard to beat for laughs and a sometimes painful look at the way we were.

This is one of the worst abominations to come out of Hollywood during the 70's. Not even Burt Reynolds can save the script of this forgettable drivel. I lost all respect for the author of the book, Dan Jenkins, for allowing this thing to be made. The book BTW is hilarious, and has no resemblance to the film. Want to watch a football movie try the Longest Yard or North Dallas Forty. 3/10